


won't you dream with me?

by Anonymous



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamscape, Alternate Universe - High School, Dreamscapes, Gen, jaemin cross country runner, jaemin is trying his best, nomin bffs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25870762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Jaemin has a secret. He can travel through dreams.
Kudos: 2
Collections: jaemin bday exchange





	won't you dream with me?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VAMPR1NCE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VAMPR1NCE/gifts).



Jaemin is pooped.

He shuffles into his room, gently shutting the door behind him for some privacy. Throwing his messenger bag in a corner of his room, he leaps into bed and shuts his eyes waiting for sleep to overtake him fast. It doesn't take long, as he's exhausted from a long and gruelling afternoon of cross-country practice. Within moments, sleep overtakes the weary boy and he drifts into slumber.

When Jaemin oepns his eyes again, he's standing in a garden. He smiles, flopping down onto the lush grass, and takes a deep breath. This is so much better than the hectic day he's been having thus far, and he intends to enjoy every second before he inevitably has to wake up and finish off homework.

Staring up at the sky, he reflects on the events of his day, smiling a little as he recounts the memory of seeing his best friend jump in joy at his maths scores. Jaemin is a boy who knows everyone and is a friendly charmer, but he considers very few people his actual friends. One person, to be exact: Lee Jeno, the boy he had known since childhood, and his other half. Jeno knows about his dream travels and often asks Jaemin to recount the more interesting stories, which he does with pleasure. They're inseparable, like two sides of the same coin, and in their own world at times. Jeno, unlike the sociable but distant Jaemin, has a group of friends he had met through his older brother that he talks about on occasion. Jaemin himself had never met them, but he supposed they couldn’t be that bad if they caused Jeno to smile.

Most of his day had progressed as normal, scraping by the maths test with a score of 87%, but lucky for Jaemin, his parents weren’t overly nosy when it came to grades. As long as he kept his overall grades up, they wouldn’t know a thing, but Jeno’s were not the same, which was why he was so relieved and joyful to have gotten a perfect score. Cross-country had proceeded as it always did, a little boring without Jeno but alas, he spent the first season of sports immersed in the tennis team. They would convene again when winter came and they both did swim, but for now, they remained away from one another after school. After running, however, he had experienced a curious situation.

A towering boy that he had never seen before came up to a panting Jaemin, smiling, and introduced himself as Johnny. They struck up a conversation, and Jaemin found that Johnny was funny, intelligent sense of humour causing what little breath remained in his weary lungs to be whooshed out in chuckles. Yes, it had all gone very well, until Johnny looked at Jaemin in curiosity and said: “What do you think about dreams?”

The question seemed innocent, but Jaemin took a peer into Johnny’s eyes and saw more than just innocent curiosity. He knew, Jaemin was sure of it, and so two minutes later found Jaemin running away, already far away from him. Johnny had been left in the dust, but only when he had gotten to the convenience store did he slow, barging in and getting a can of mango juice to calm his screaming nerves. After chugging it down, he walked into his house and ate some more dinner, calmly pinning his appetite on his growth and then went to bed after a brief homework intervention.

Jaemin hauled himself up, noting the door in the foot of a hill near him. He supposed that was the door that would lead him to his true experience of the day because, in the dreamscape, the adventure was infinite. He dusted himself off and made his way to the door, apprehension clear but refusing to let a mere door get the best of him. Throwing it open would probably be the best option, much like ripping off a bandaid, thought Jaemin, and so that’s what he did.

Two seconds in and the door shuts again, the sound of laser guns pinging in a futuristic gun war now apparent to poor, tired Jaemin. He takes a deep breath and opens the door again, this time going in and shutting it slowly.

Jaemin is pretty far away from the actual fighting, hidden from view behind a thick bush. He looks around for anything that could help him get through the fray because odds are that whatever he is looking for isn’t with an actual fighter. His frantic searching leads him to see a small opening that holds to a wiry, young-looking boy in hiding, and Jaemin nods. He feels it, that he was the one who had what he needed. He thinks for a short moment and then smiles in anticipation. He knows what to do.

In a quick movement, Jaemin grabs a handful of dirt from the ground under him and throws it over himself, somewhat masking the obvious sense that he wasn’t from around here. There are leaves and twigs in his hair from the bush, and he looks rather tired, completing his ‘pitiful boy’ look. Now, all he needs was a weapon. He looks around frantically, eyes searching the space around him.

There, a ways away from him is an abandoned laser gun, likely dropped from a fallen fighter. Dexterous fingers wrapping around the weapon and resting on the trigger, Jaemin joins the fray quickly and begins to defend himself in a matter of moments. Shooting left and right, he manages to stay at the edge of the fighting and emerge relatively unscathed in the mouth of the opening, save for a piece of singed hair that would probably remain burnt when he woke up. Sighing internally, he drops his gun and moved closer to the boy, who has yet to detect the other’s presence.

“Hello,” says Jaemin gently. The boy jumps, obviously frightened from the loud sounds that were coming from the mouth of the tunnel and the fighting that was holding him in. He clutches a small object to his chest like a talisman as he surveys Jaemin, big and dark eyes filled with curiosity and apprehension.

Jaemin walks a little closer, keeping his hands in sight like he's talking to a cornered small animal, and crouches down a short distance from the boy. Putting up his hands in the universal sign for “I come in peace”, he smiles gently. The boy relaxes, and Jaemin is proud. He smiles a little wider, inches a little closer.

“What’s your name?” The boy looks surprised at his voice but still squeaks it out bravely, shoulders tensing.

“I’m Jisoo.” Jaemin nods seriously, holding out a hand for the boy to shake.

“Hello, Jisoo. I’m Jaemin.” The boy cautiously takes it, beginning to warm up to the older. He still looks guarded, though, and Jaemin intends on removing all traces of it.

“So tell me, what’s a young kid like you doing in such a scene?” Jisoo looks down, feet shuffling, and when he speaks, it's barely audible.

“My mom isn’t here anymore. My sister got worried because Dad had been fighting for a long time, so she went to search for him. When she didn’t come back, I came looking too.” The poor boy looks devastated. He can't have been more than ten years old, and yet here he was, faced with such a situation. Despite this being the dreamscape and not real life, Jaemin’s heart goes out to him as he ponders how he's going to help Jisoo. Suddenly, an idea strikes him.

“Jisoo, how did you get in here?” The boy shrugs, pointing farther into his small tunnel.

“There’s a door down there. I walked into a door I found near my house while looking for my sister, and so I walked into it and here I am. The door leads back home, but I can’t go just yet.” At this, the boy looked up into Jaemin’s eyes, imploring him to listen.

“I need to find her.” The boy’s eyes widen as he looked deep into the depths of Jaemin’s equally wide ones. “She might be all I have left.”

Despite himself, Jaemin is sold. He gently lays a hand on the young boy’s arm and waits for Jisoo to look into his eyes.

“I can help you find your sister, but I’m going to need you to follow my lead, okay? I think there’s a good chance she’s looking for you the same way you’re looking for her. How about we go back first, and then if there’s no other way we’ll go forwards.

They set off, Jisoo still clutching an object in his hand. Jaemin chooses not to pry, instead smiling down at the boy indulgently as they go. He did always have a huge soft spot for kids, always doting on his baby cousins and pretty much any other kid he can spoil. Wait till Jeno hears about this one, he thinks with a small scoff as they walk along a seemingly average dirt road, gravel crunching under their feet.

Jisoo’s eyes lit up, alighting on a person in the distance. Jaemin squints, and a teenage girl comes into view. Jisoo sprints past him, dropping what was in his hand before. Jaemin pauses, watching the siblings reach one another, and then bends over to pick it up.

Clutched in his hand is a small orange hair clip, encrusted with cheap but cute looking rhinestones. Jaemin sees Jisoo leap into the arms of who he assumes is his sister, the small boy burying his head into her chest as they both sob. This must be his object, he thinks, and promptly fades, smile disappearing last like the Cheshire Cat.

When Jisoo detaches himself from his sister to thank the kind person that had helped him find his sister, he finds that he's nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, the young boy slips his hand into his sister’s and the two walk back home. In the distance, the gunshots fizzle down to mere background noise and the town is bathed in a strange calm, like the moments just after a thunderstorm. All is now well.

Jaemin cracks one eye open, mouth feeling cottony as his head buzzes, not unpleasantly, but in the way it usually buzzes after going through a dream mission. This one wasn’t too bad, as far as they had gone in his life, but it had its ups and downs. He carefully brings his fist up to his sleepy eyes, making sure the clip is still there, and then in a swift motion the rested boy rolls out of bed. Carefully placing the clip in a drawer with all of his other dream treasures, he stretches a little and then ambles into his bathroom, intent on getting ready for school. As he brushes his teeth and showers, he attempts to align his memories of the encounter, knowing that Jeno would ask him as soon as he got to school. After an exchange with his mom and a ruffling of his sister’s hair, he's off and onto the school bus, where he soon catches Jeno’s twinkling eyes and unceremoniously plopped himself down in the seat with his best friend.

Jeno looks over at Jaemin, who as usual looks quite tired, and wordlessly hands over a plastic-covered cup, full of iced coffee so dark it looks black without light to filter through it in the dim bus. Jaemin beams at his best friend and takes the drink, immediately sucking in a huge gulp of the battery acid-like drink and sighing in relief at the burst of energ. Jeno, ever so patient, waits for him to finish sating his thirst in silence. With a nod from the other, Jaemin begins a recount of the events that had happened in his last dream, waving his coffee around a little as he speaks. Jeno is a good listener, nodding and making noises of approval but never interjecting, and before the two of them knew it they were at school. The two walk out, still speaking, and then they part ways at their lockers. Jaemin has math class first thing in the morning whereas Jeno had science, but the two of them meet up while walking to classes and at lunch. Their only class together is P.E. midway through the day.

Jaemin’s school day proceeds as usual, with all his classes going by somewhat sluggishly as he daydreams about all sorts of things. At his locker at the end of the day, Jaemin finds himself in a similar situation as he had been the previous day, curiously enough. A boy approaches him, smiling charmingly as he stands by.

“Hey, I’m Jungwoo! I heard you were on the cross-country team?” Though wary, Jaemin really loves cross and soon finds himself in a conversation with Jungwoo, who was a track runner, as they walk over to where the rest of the team is convening. It was all going so well until Jungwoo asks a question in his soft voice that Jaemin almost didn’t catch.

“I’m sorry, what?” Jungwoo looks up and repeats his question, something unrecognisable glimmering in his shiny eyes.

“I asked if you liked laser tag? It’s really fun, but sometimes I’m so scared that it would actually hurt, you know?” Jaemin binks, then internally groans. This couldn’t be happening to him, again. What did that question even mean, anyway? It was so seemingly random, he can't help but be instantly on guard.

“Right, it can be. Hey Jungwoo, I gotta go, my team is waiting. It’s been a good talk man, bye.” With that, he promptly speed-walks away, leaving a bewildered Jungwoo, muttering “I was so close…” in his wake. And if Jaemin runs a little harder than he needed to in his need to forget the encounter that day at cross, that's between him, the path, and no one else.

Bedtime can't come soon enough, it seems. Jaemin had run himself ragged and now faces the repercussions, barely able to drag himself to the showers and then all the way to his house, His mind is so foggy and muddled that he could barely force himself to read the road signs. He somehow manages to make it home, promptly crashing on his couch and falling into an exhaustion-induced dreamless sleep.

When he comes to, it's 3 AM and the rest of his family is asleep. The only signs that they had ever been there at all was a bowl full of rice on the kitchen counter and a spoon beside it. Jaemin groggily pulls himself up and goes to town on the rice, eagerly shoving spoon after spoon into his mouth with newfound energy, feeling less drained with each delicious bite. All too soon, the food is over, and a pleased Jaemin rubs his stomach and tiptoes to his room, careful not to wake his parents. Flopping onto his bed, he lays there and thinks for a while. Why were these people suddenly approaching him with references to the dreamscape he had strived for so long to hide? What did they know? More importantly, what did they want him to do? He flips over, kicking his legs a little as he flounders and greatly resembles a fish out of water. Pondering over the situation, he comes to a conclusion: the only way to find out would be to hear out the next guy that was inevitably going to come his way.

Banishing all other thoughts from his mind, Jaemin forces himself to fall asleep. Eventually, he falls asleep again for all of ten minutes and ends up getting woken again by an unfortunately timed alarm, before he could get any good dreaming in. He sighs, defeated, and like that yet another day begins.

Jaemin makes it all the way to cross country without anything weird happening to him, to his great surprise and mild disappointment. He runs with caution, taking the time to identify each person around him and not speaking to a single one. Eventually, the practice ends and no one approaches him still. Baffled, Jaemin trudges back home, still searching but finding no one. His day proceeds as normal, and soon night approaches, and with it comes a new dream.

Opening his eyes to the vibrant scenery of a new dreamscape is always an exhilarating experience. Nothing makes Jaemin feel quite as happy as being put into the slightly technicolour world of his dreams, suited to his tastes right before his missions. Today, he's on a wooden swing set in an old playground, resembling his memories from childhood. Jaemin kicks himself forward hesitantly, rocking back and forth at the movement. As he swings, he looks around to try and find the door to his mission and sees it in the form of a porch back door.

Leaping off the swing in a sudden movement leaves Jaemin on the floor, somewhat regretting the silly action. He brushes himself off, looks around to see if anyone had noticed despite being alone, and sets off for the door, briskly opening it so as to quell his embarrassment from the earlier mishap.

Behind the door is a deceptively normal gym. Jaemin pauses to observe, noting a pair of boys playing a game of HORSE by a hoop far from him and then jumps as a stray soccer ball rolls into his leg, bumping to a stop. He kicks it back in the general direction from where it had come from and leans against the bleachers next to him, planning his next move. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a boy entering through large double doors at the head of the gym. Their eyes meet, and the new boy starts forward, clearly trying to speak to Jaemin. Something seems very off about the situation, but he stands his ground anyway.

“Hello! Jaemin, right?” The boy sticks out a hand in greeting, eyes curving as he smiles. Jaemin is taken aback. No one had ever greeted him like this in a dreamscape; it unnerved him.

“I’m Chenle,” the boy, Chenle, continues. Cautiously, Jaemin shakes the hand, searching for malicious intent in the boy’s face.

“Hi. How do you know my name?” Chenle merely shrugs, one corner of his mouth upturned in a lopsided little grin.

“I know things, lots of things. For example, I know that you’re here in a dream, and this isn’t reality for you the way it is for the people that belong.” Jaemin’s eyebrows knit together, so utterly confused. How did Chenle know all of this? He asks as much, and ends up getting only a small smile in response.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out, Jaemin,” he says, voice growing more businesslike. “Now, the mission you’re in is almost completed, and all you have to do is give that soccer ball to that boy over there. I solved most of it for you, but I doubt you believe me.” A nod from Jaemin confirms this, although he's still trying to wrap his head around the curious situation.

“If you go over there and give him the ball and the dream ends, then I will be saying the truth. I’ll find you in another dream then, Jaemin, and we can talk. There’s a lot to say, but there’s no point in saying it until you’re willing to believe me, so go ahead,” continues Chenle, leaving Jaemin’s thoughts awhirl and his mind a confused mess of interest, cautiousness, and a desire to learn more about the dreamscape after so much time being stuck with just a few facts.

Coming to an eventual decision as he forces his thoughts in a somewhat orderly line, Jaemin decides to take the offer. He briskly nods and walks off, hearing Chenle’s cheery “Goodbye, Jaemin!” from behind him. A little stiffly, watching for any traps that could get him, he grabs the ball from where it lay resting against a wall and approaches the boy, who on second thought was probably more than a boy and looked older than Jaemin.

“Is this yours?” The man turns, and upon seeing the ball his face goes a fraction kinder as he nods his head yes. He takes the ball out of Jaemin’s hands and in its place puts a bright blue lanyard with a keycard attached, likely for a locker room, and turns away. Jaemin can instantly feel that the lanyard is his object, and he marvels at how Chenle was so correct. He runs over to the side of the gym again and as he disappears, he tries to spot Chenle again, but the boy was nowhere to be found, to Jaemin’s immense displeasure. With a small pop, Jaemin’s confused mouth in the distinct shape of a puzzled frown is the last thing to go.

Jaemin wakes up with a small gasp and stares up at his ceiling, hands empty. He stands up in a frenzy, looking for the object of his dream, only to find it hanging around his neck. Relieved, he stands and pulls it off, dropping it haphazardly into his object drawer and chancing a glance at the clock. It's still three AM, but Jaemin had already slept more over the course of the last 24 hours than he could have claimed to for the past several years.

He abandons his bed in favour of opening the window and leaning his upper body out, hair getting ruffled by the soft breeze. Ever so carefully, he pulls a single leg out of his window and onto the thick branch of a large oak tree that was planted ever so coincidentally right there. Carefully bracing his hands on the windowsill, he pulls out his other leg and then moves his arms, fully on the tree. He carefully manoeuvres down, eyes cautious the entire way, and takes a deep breath when he finally makes it to the bottom.

Brushing off his shorts, Jaemin pulls his phone out of his pocket, where it had been for most of the day and checks his messages absentmindedly as he sets off down the street. He has a few messages, some Instagram and Snapchat notifications, but nothing interesting, he figues. He puts his phone back into his pocket and looks around, finding himself at the nearby grocery store. He supposes that a snack couldn’t possibly hurt, and walks in to grab himself a doughnut.

Walking into the bakery section and picking up his doughnut, he smiles brightly at the baker who sends him a tired back. When he turns, he comes eye to eye with a tall man. Staring at Jaemin with a carefully neutral expression, the man looks right at Jaemin, who stares back, somehow feeling like a cornered animal.

The man clears his throat uncomfortably and looks at Jaemin as if expecting him to do something. When he gets no such reaction, he sighs and looked around.

“The bagels,” he says, dark eyes boring straight into Jaemin’s soul.

“What about them?” The man sighed again, louder this time, and waved his hands around like Jaemin was supposed to understand. When he doesn't react, the man scoffs.

“I’m trying to get bagels, kid, and you’re right in front of them!” Jaemin blinks, startled, and looks behind himself only to realise that the man was right, and Jaemin had been standing in front of the bagel rack this entire time. Sheepishly, he moves off to the side with his doughnut, a light embarrassed blush dashing up to his neck and centering at his ears.

“I”m sorry about that, Mr, uh…” The man watched Jaemin flounder for a bit, one side of his mouth quirked into a small smile.

“Doyoung, kid. My name’s Doyoung.” Jaemin starts, mouth dropping open in shock.

“Say, Doyoung, you don’t happen to have a younger brother, do you?” An eyebrow raises on Doyoung’s face, and he looks intrigued.

“I do, actually. What about him?” Jaemin gulps. This situation is so much worse than he had thought.

“Named, uh, Jeno?” Jaemin said, voice cracking on the last word as he mentally prays to whatever gods were or weren’t out there to please, please not be him. Doyoung’ eyes go wide, and he steps forward.

“Yes, that’s my little brother’s name. You know him?” Jaemin screeches internally, eyes flicking around before settling back on Doyoung as he holds his breath ever so slightly.

“I’m Jaemin,” he finally said, watching a spark of recognition hit Doyoung. A broad smile takes over his face, revealing straight teeth and a cute gummy smile that makes the once intimidating man seem younger and quite adorable.

“Oh, so you’re that Jaemin, are you? I’ve heard so much about you! Jeno speaks about you almost all the time, I think I know more about you than I know about him sometimes.” Jaemin ducks his head, embarrassed but still able to shoot back a smile just as bright and wide, glowing in the traditional Jaemin way. Doyoung seems taken with it, and the two of them walk side by side, talking about whatever.

Jaemin learns that Doyoung is only a few years older than him, and had been occupied with law school for a while, unable to meet him until now because of it. They talk some more, about how law school and high school were. Eventually, they made their way to the self-checkout, Doyoung gently but firmly pulling the doughnut bag out of his hands and checking it in along with his own groceries, tut-tutting when Jaemin tries to protest.

“Nonsense, Jaemin! We’re like family now, and besides, I’m getting groceries with my dad’s card because we’re making a surprise breakfast.” Jaemin smiles at this, remembering that it was Mrs Lee’s birthday tomorrow (well, today at this point). The two of them gather the bags of groceries, and Doyoung offers to drive Jaemin back, something he can't pass up.

He sits in the passenger seat of Doyoung’s Toyota Camry rather awkwardly, nibbling on his food and scrolling through his phone as the scenery passes by in a blur. He barely feels the bumps of the road partially due to the car and partially due to Doyoung’s stellar driving skills.

In a few minutes, they stop at Jaemin’s house and he gets out of the car, thanking Doyoung for the ride. Doyoung insisted on waiting and watching him scale the tree and pull himself up into the window, a process made much more awkward with an audience. Eventually, he pulls himself up and waves, flopping into bed afterwards. He haphazardly throws a blanket over his legs.

 _What a night_ is his last coherent thought before he drifts off.

The next day, Jaemin can't stop thinking about Chenle. _How was it that he knew so much about him? What the hell did he want? Is he being sincere?_ His inner turmoil stays with him all through the school day and cross country, where he almost trips several times. Jaemin avoids almost everyone save for Jeno, scared of meeting someone else who happened to know about his ability.

The dreamland is eerie that night. Jaemin finds himself in a forest, misty with fog and a little damp. When he finds the door and leaves, he's more than happy to be rid of the weird feeling of being watched.

He enters the door and walks into a facility, all metal walls and blinking lights. There is a hallway in front of him, so Jaemin walks through it. The sound of his footsteps on the hard floor and gentle beeps from what he presumes is machinery around him are the only sounds in the hall.

As Jaemin walks, he notices a door at the end of the hallway. He begins to run, shoes making a dull thud against the stone of the ground. He can't shake the perpetual feeling of being watched.

At the door, he takes a deep breath. This is it, he thinks, flinging open the door with a loud bang.

Jaemin blinks.

In front of him is a group of men, sitting around a meeting table. They seem to be expecting him. Jaemin notes that Chenle is one of the people, and so is Johnny, and Jungwoo, and Doyoung and wait…

Jeno?

Jaemin stares at his best friend, who sheepishly waves. Jaemin is so, so confused.

A man Jaemin doesn't recognise stands and smiles at him, and he’s so pretty that Jaemin blinks in surprise.

“Sit down, Jaemin,” the man says, beckoning to an empty chair at the head of the table. “We have much to say.”

Jaemin sits.


End file.
